No Way Out - Bell Centre, Montreal Quebec Canada, February 23rd 2003

Sadly the opening video for this PPV is missing from my version of the show - perhaps there wasn’t an opening video? But the exciting news is that the event’s theme song is intact and it’s a BANGER. Evanescence's Bring me to Life. You’ve heard this song before and probably already love it. Here’s the start of the PPV anyway just for fun and because I’d already started to record it before I realised there was no video package.

Johnathan Coachman is replacing Jim Ross on commentary for this event as JR was injured on Raw. More on that later. He’s ok, and had been working as a commentator on Sunday Night Heat on and off for a while. He is a little personalityless at this point, which causes Jerry Lawler to try to match his tone and play more of a straight man tonight too. He’s more analytical than usual to make up for the lack of JR.

Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy

This match was originally announced as Chris Jericho vs. Test because of Jericho accidentally hitting Test’s girlfriend Stacy Keiber with a steel chair. That hasn’t been mentioned for a couple of weeks and it’s now been changed to Jeff Hardy, which makes more sense long term as Jeff is the new protege of Shawn Michaels, with whom Jericho has been feuding.

This is the first PPV in this building since Survivor Series 1997 so Shawn Michaels being “barred from ringside” is really because they knew the Canadians in attendance would be quick to come down like a ton of bricks on HBK. He and Earl Hebner famously screwed Bret Hart at that event and they’re not over it in 2025, never mind 2003!

They start out with chain wrestling, linking hands and going back and forth until Jericho slaps Jeff in the face and causes it to descend into a brawl. 

The story of this match has been Jeff Hardy’s recent attempts to “find himself”, flirting with a heel turn and attacking people for no reason until finally getting some good advice from HBK. 

On the outside, Jeff’s first high risk dive works for him but then his second - a run along the barrier - backfires and he’s sent into the ring steps so Jericho can start to slowly work him over in the ring while the Canadian crowd give Jericho a much more positive reaction than he normally gets. 

Jeff avoids a shoulder charge in the corner to begin his comeback, getting very close near falls off his own version of the Twist of Fate and the Whisper in the Wind but Jericho blocks a kick and turns it into the Walls of Jericho. Jeff makes it to the ropes and blocks a top rope dive with an arm drag and follows with the Swanton Bomb. Jericho gets his foot on the bottom rope to break the pin. Jeff goes for a second Swanton but Jericho rolls out of the way and follows up with the Lionsault. Jeff kicks out! Jericho almost steals the pin with his feet on the ropes and is knocked off the top rope. Hardy tries for a top rope hurricanrana which Jericho counters into a powerbomb off the top rope and locks in a second Walls of Jericho, siting back really deep into the hold to get the submission victory in a very good and hard fought match.

Jericho refuses to break the hold wanting to torture Jeff so Shawn Michaels runs down to make the save, attacking Jericho amid a hail of boos and “you screwed Bret” chants from the fans on Montreal. Christian runs down too but Michaels fights them both off and drops Christian with Sweet Chin music to send the Canadian duo running. Michaels’ reaction from the crowd is mixed at best.

This was Jeff Hardy’s final PPV appearance for several years, leaving the WWE in April and not returning until August 2006. Sadly Jeff was causing some concern backstage due to erratic behaviour, escalating drug use and began to no-show events. He refused to go to rehab and so the company had no choice but to release him. That was very much the story of Jeff’s whole career as while his 2006 return was a huge success for both him and the company - finally winning the WWE title and becoming the top merchandise seller - his drug abuse issues continued and he has had legal trouble and been released from both WWE and TNA more than once in the decades since. As I write this, it’s the day after he and Matt - the TNA Tag Team Champions - won the NXT Tag Team titles in 2025 with both brothers obviously being in the twilight of their careers. Hopefully a happy ending for Jeff (and Matt, who’s had plenty of his own issues in the decades since)

Backstage, WWE Champion Kurt Angle motivates Team Angle for tonight. They’re not in America, they’re in Canada which has no Olympic heroes of their own so when they chant “you suck” what they really mean “we suck”. Kurt vows victory in their first time teaming up as a trio and says he has a plan to make things even easier for them.. Mysterious!

Elsewhere, all four members of Evolution arrive together in a limo but more importantly is that in the background, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s pickup truck is parked up. The Rattlesnake is here!

World Tag Team Championship

William Regal and Lance Storm © vs. Kane and Rob Van Dam

Kane and RVD are super popular thanks to the classic story of RVD trying to get the stoic scary monster to come out of his shell. Storm and Regal are very much the chosen ones of the Bischoff and Morley regime and it’s benefitted them enormously over the past couple of months.

Early in the match, Kane powerslams Regal and his head hits the mat first. It’s a very scary moment as Regal isn’t moving. Kane covers and Storm smartly breaks up the pin. Kane does a decent job of very gently moving Regal to his own corner so that Storm can tag himself in and continue the match as Regal looks groggy on the apron. He clearly needs immediate medical attention. 

He does his best to continue to help out in the match, pulling Storm to the outside but Lance kindly shoves him out of the way so he doesn’t have to bear the brunt of RVD’s dive out of the ring. 

I was very distracted by knowing the real story of Regal in this match so while he tags in and continues to be involved, bumping and hitting moves, I was so concerned about his well-being even rewatching decades later. 

Storm and Regal isolate RVD and work him over in their corner but when he makes the tag to Kane, the Big Red Machine runs through both of them. Lance Storm desperately twists his mask, making it so Kane can’t see.

In his blind confusion he grabs the nearest target and chokeslams him which just so happens to be his own partner. Kane collapses to the corner to try and fix his mask unaware that he just chokeslamed Rob and Regal steals the pin to regain the World Tag Team Championships. 

RVD is furious at Kane after the match - this isn’t the first time Kane being over protective of his mask has cost them a match in the past month.

This was William Regal’s last match for over a year. In his 2005 autobiography, Regal recalls having swelling all over his body, high heart rate and trouble sleeping in the lead-up to this match. During the match as discussed above, he suffered a concussion and was briefly knocked unconscious after a messy bodyslam. Over the next few days, Regal's health worsened and he consulted a doctor. He was informed that he had contracted a heart parasite from a WWE tour of India in November 2002. This, coupled with his aforementioned concussion, kept him out of action for the rest of the year and his next match wasn’t until June 2004. 

Josh Matthews interviews Matt Hardy who says that losing 10lbs in 2 weeks is impossible for most people but thanks to Mattitude, all things are possible. He sees his brother Jeff and tells him that if he had continued to follow Mattitude then he wouldn’t lose every match he has these days. Jeff slaps his brother in the face!

WWE Cruiserweight Championship

Billy Kidman © vs. Matt Hardy (w/Shannon Moore)

What was Matt Hardy talking about? Well he had to lose 10lbs so that he qualified as a cruiserweight to take this match. The PPV Matt fact is that he is annoyed by snow and ice - that’s a reference to the fact that the snow was enormously heavy and laying thick in Montreal during this event. It’s a minor miracle there’s even any fans in the building thanks to the blizzard. 

Tazz and Cole accuse Matt of being a bit dishonest here as he lost the weight for the official weigh in but has bulked back up again since to give him the size advantage.

On the outside, Matt takes control after running Kidman into the ring post and works him over in a very un-Cruiserweight style.

On the subject of cruiserweights, Rey Mysterio defeated Jamie Noble earlier tonight on Sunday Night Heat before the PPV started.

Tazz keeps mentioning banana juice and nut butter and says that Shannon loves BJ (banana juice) which must be an inside joke.

Kidman finally rallies for a comeback with an enziguri and gets a close near fall with a spinebuster. 

Matt comes back and gets near falls of his own with a leg drop off the middle rope and his side effect slam. Kidman runs up Moore on the apron for a tornado DDT and takes aim for the Shooting Star Press but misses and Matt follows up with a wicked looking Twist of Fate. He’s a second slow crawling into a cover and Kidman amazingly kicks out! 

Matt wastes no time and lifts Kidman onto the top rope for a superplex but that’s blocked and Kidman knocks him to the mat. He can’t follow with the Shooting Star as Shannon Moore grabs his leg and Matt hits a Twist of Fate off the top rope! 

Matt Hardy wins the Cruiserweight Championship in a disappointing match (it wasn’t bad, I just expected it to be better) and the story now is whether Matt can keep the weight off and remain under 220lbs for the cruiserweight division.

Backstage, Edge has been laid out and isn’t moving. Medical personnel scramble to check on him as Chris Benoit, Brock Lesnar and Stephanie McMahon demand updates.

Edge joins Jeff Hardy and William Regal with the sad behind the scenes stories tonight as this is his last appearance on WWE TV until April 2004. All those ladder and TLC matches finally caught up to him and Edge needed neck surgery - the same neck surgery that sidelined Steve Austin for 8 months and both Rhyno and Lita for over a year each. This angle writes him off TV so that he can have the surgery and it sets up a “whodunnit?” storyline for him when he’s ready to return (a storyline they never ended up doing)

The Undertaker vs. The Big Show (w/Paul Heyman)

Four months after being thrown off the Smackdown stage and sidelined, Undertaker seeks revenge against the Big Show. I quite enjoyed the build to this one - lame comedy but it being lame was kind of the whole point.

I mentioned it in the Preview too but I think Undertaker looks in phenomenal shape here. Given the build and the in-ring limitations of both of these men they really should have made this a no disqualification match or something so they could use weapons and distractions to give us the most entertaining brawl possible. 

Undertaker goes to the outside and pays for it, being run spine-first into the ring post. Undertaker quickly battles back with punches and goes to get a steel chair but as the referee fights to get it off him, Show takes control with a big punch. Undertaker tries to lift Big Show but fails and Big Show takes control of the match dropping heavy elbows across the Deadman’s chest. 

The fans start to boo as Show slowly works over Undertaker in what is, to be fair, quite a dull match but when he locks in a big hug the fans do start to rally and cheer for Undertaker to break it. He does but runs right back into a sidewalk slam and its back to being slowly worked over. 

Big Show hits Undertaker with a big headbutt and the fans start to chant “Taker” so maybe I was too mean saying they’re bored and they were just booing Big Show because he’s the bad guy. 

A bloody Undertaker (I think he was busted open by the headbutt) mounts a comeback with strikes but then stupidly grabs Show by the throat and tries to chokeslam him. He just hurts his own back and eats a clothesline.

After some more back and forth including his old school arm wringer, Undertaker still can’t hit any of his big moves given the size of his opponent. He counters a powerslam into the Taking Care of Business dragon sleeper but has to break the hold when Paul Heyman gets involved and then A-Train runs down. Undertaker brings the crowd to its feet with a big running dive up and over the top rope landing on both A-Train and Heyman! Undertaker goes back to Big Show but walks right into a chokeslam. He crawls into the cover but Undertaker grabs his arm, locking him in a triangle choke. Undertaker trying to use mat wrestling and submissions because of the size of his opponent is smart and Big Show quickly passes out. Undertaker wins via submission. 

This was the real beginning of real life MMA fan Undertaker trying to incorporate more of it into his move set, with the commentators constantly talking about what a skilled striker he is too. Undertaker isn’t done and gets himself a steel chair to get some real revenge but A-Train is quick to rescue his buddy Big Show, drilling him with the Derailer and barking in his face that Undertaker is “a little dog” and this is his yard. A-Train helps Big Show to the back - isn’t that nice? 

In the back as Edge is loaded into an ambulance, Stephanie McMahon says that Benoit and Lesnar have “made their decision” and their match is next. What is the decision?

Elsewhere in Eric Bischoff’s office he and Chief Morley list all the various Raw-contracted heels who are waiting in the wings to help him out tonight and laugh about what kind of gimmick match they’ll be making for himself and Stone Cold tonight - a lumberjack match? A handicap match? No holds barred, like with JR on Raw? Vince McMahon arrives to burst their bubble - he was so impressed by Eric’s karate demonstration on Raw that he sees it as a one on one, no interference match and if anyone does get involved he will fire them on the spot. 

Three on Two Handicap match

Team Angle (WWE Champion Kurt Angle and WWE Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, w/Paul Heyman) vs. Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit

Tony Chimel announces the change to the match beforehand - Edge is out and Benoit and Lesnar are going to go ahead anyway, just the two of them against three.

Aren’t Team Angle an awesome sight, all as champions and united in their matching sweatsuits and ring gear? 

Benoit and Benjamin start off for their teams and Benoit outclasses Shelton with chops but is backed to the corner so he can tag out to Haas. He is also quickly dominated and it’s Benoit and Lesnar who control this match. Lesnar launches Haas clear across the ring and tells him to tag out, wanting to fight Kurt Angle who hops off the apron and backs away, which gets boos. 

Team Angle finally gets on the same page and with Lesnar so focused on Kurt it’s easy for the WWE Champion to lock him in a sleeper from the apron. Shelton rocks him with a stiff superkick right to the face and the Angle trio isolate Lesnar in their corner, tagging in and out and grinding him down. 

He finally counters out of Kurt’s long sleeper to make the tag to Benoit and I was surprised that the crowd didn’t react bigger to their fellow countryman. Benoit motors through all three with German suplexes but when he goes for a diving headbutt he’s taken down with a superplex. Shelton knocks Lesnar clear off the apron with a superkick and Team Angle resume their control of the match now slowly wearing down Benoit. Perhaps the reason the crowd aren’t into this is because there’s no stakes here? There’s probably a good reason WWE doesn’t do this kind of thing on PPV more often - it feels like a step on the road to Wrestlemania rather than a PPV match in its own right. 

Benoit makes a tag to Lesnar and the match breaks down with a parade of suplexes - Lesnar and Benoit throw around all three members of Team Angle and Benoit gets Angle into the Crossface which is countered into the ankle lock which is counted back into the Crossface. Haas is there to save his captain from having to tap out. Lesnar fights off Benjamin and drills Kurt with an F5 just as Charlie Haas taps out to the Crippler Crossface. Benoit and Lesnar overcome the odds in a fun match. That’s the third submission victory tonight! 

After the match while Team Angle consoles Kurt on the ramp, Lesnar celebrates with the WWE title belt, daring Kurt to come back and fight him again.

World Heavyweight Championship

Triple H © (w/Ric Flair) vs. Scott Steiner

Zero time wasted as we jump right into the build for the next match - a rematch from the genuinely terrible match at the Royal Rumble which “went 30 minutes” accordingly to Triple H but was in fact only 17. It felt like a lot longer to me too, Hunter.

The really important aspect of the build to this match is the formation of Evolution - Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Batista forming a foursome which endured and controlled the main event scene of Raw for a very long time. Historically very important, and certainly better remembered than Scott Steiner’s main event WWE run. The best thing about this video package is, as I mentioned at the start of the night, Evanescenes’s Bring Me to Life. Anyone who says they don’t love that song is a God damn liar. That whole album is full of bangers honestly.

Steiner gets decent reactions on Raw every week but the fans in Boston really turned on him at the Royal Rumble. Will the Canadians be nicer to Big Poppa Pump? No, they were in fact much nastier and booed everything he did. 

Triple H’s right thigh is still heavily taped up as it was at the Royal Rumble. He spent a big chunk of the past month walking with a crutch too - buddy, just take a few weeks off and heal up.

Coach smartly points out that while Ric Flair is at ringside, the rest of Evolution is conspicuous by their absence and wonders aloud whether we’ll see them tonight.

The referee for this match is Earl Hebner who immediately draws “you screwed Bret” chants, totally distracting from the match itself.

Steiner dominates the match, hammering The Game with punches and elbows and then goes after his taped leg, pulling the bandage off and then focusing his attack on The Game’s left leg with kicks and elbows. The fans boo and chant “Steiner sucks” which given his infamous short temper and history of unprofessional outbursts I am amazed didn’t get a reaction from him.

Steiner taunts Flair by putting Triple H in the Figure Four so he rakes Freakzilla’s eyes which makes him break the hold and chase him around the ring. That allows Triple H to recover and knock Steiner off the apron and into the ring steps which gets a big cheer from the now firmly pro-Triple H crowd. Ironic given that this crowd keeps chanting “you screwed Bret” at Earl Hebner - in real life, Triple H was more involved in that screwjob than Earl was. 

They trade an endless string of punches back and forth and when Triple H tries to get himself disqualified, shoving Hebner that just makes the fans cheer him more! The fans have totally hijacked this match. Steiner gets a near fall with a pair of belly to belly suplexes and has the match firmly in control as he sets up the same superplex he used to beat Jericho on Raw. Ric Flair was supposed to break up the pin after it but he was miles out of position and so Triple H had to just kick out. This is a MESS! Scott locks in the Steiner Recliner in the ring and Flair calls to the back for help which brings Randy Orton and Batista running to the ring.

Steiner goes out to meet them and beats them both up too, and blocks the Pedigree attempt. Steiner brings Orton into the ring and clobbers him some more before throwing him out of the ring onto Batista. Earl Hebner is distracted ejecting the rest of Evolution from ringside but all of these distractions allow Triple H to hit Steiner in the head with the World title belt. Big Poppa Pump kicks out and the fans boo even louder. I thought that was the finish too. A Pedigree later and Triple H finally defeats Scott Steiner to loud cheers in a fairly dreadful match which the fans totally turned on. They gave me something to talk about at least so thanks Montreal! 

Backstage, Eric Bischoff makes his way to the ring and passes a bunch of superstars sitting watching the show together who have a good laugh at his expense. Of note is that Test and Stacy Keiber were there, which makes me wonder why his match with Jericho was cancelled and changed to Jeff Hardy? Weird but hardly the important thing here - the Rattlesnake is back! 

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Eric Bischoff

This is a fantastic video package and is a perfect recap of the story for the past month. I don’t need to talk about what a big deal it is that Stone Cold is back and I’m very glad that he is.

Before we get to the festivities, JR comes out to join the commentary desk for this match. He was told by his doctor not to work tonight but he wouldn’t miss this match for the world. 

Eric Bischoff enters first and does his best to convince us all that this match shouldn’t take place, offering to forfeit the match. The glass shatters and Stone Cold enters to a deafening reaction. Stone Cold Steve Austin is back after a 10 month absence and it’s a great feeling. His personal issues with the company resolved, the apologies given and accepted on both sides, and he’s back which even a few months before this most people thought was impossible and that the fences would never be mended. JR screams himself hoarse for the Rattlesnake as he, King and even Coach share a laugh about how bad Bischoff is about to get beaten up. 

Austin paces the ring as Bischoff pleads with him to just let this match go but Austin is having none of it and tackles the General Manager, hammering him with right hands and choking him with his waist coat. The fans chant WHAT along with his stomps as he kicks the hell out of his boss in the corner. The crowd is SO loud as the Stone Cold beats the living hell out of Bischoff and has some choice words for the referee trying to stop him.

Eric rakes Austin’s eyes and kicks him in the chest which Stone Cold no-sells and he shoots Bischoff a smirk before continuing to assault him. He looks like he's having the time of his life being back in front of a loud arena full of fans, chanting his name as he kicks Bischoff’s ass with a big smile on his face.

A Stone Cold Stunner puts Bischoff down but Austin lifts Eric’s arm himself on the cover, hilariously telling the referee that he kicked out. He does it again after a second Stunner, not done with Bischoff yet and looks a little emotional as he looks around at the crowd while they loudly chant his name. A third Stone Cold Stunner ends the beating as JR screams “Stone Cold! Stone Cold!” over and over, getting big laughs from both King and Coach. Great stuff. 

There’s a little bit of sad real life to go along with this moment. Bischoff mentioned on Raw that Stone Cold had divorced Debra since we last saw him, but that comes along with some nasty domestic abuse allegations. I won’t talk about that specifically but at the time Austin was court mandated that he wasn’t allowed to drink and so this celebration is beerless. 

Austin drops Eric Bischoff with a fourth Stone Cold Stunner before he leaves and I hope he loved every second of having this arena full of fans screaming their support for him. JR has the final funny moment of the segment, reminding us that not only is Stone Cold back, he’s on Bischoff’s payroll! 

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan

The rightful main event to this PPV given the scale of their match at Wrestlemania and while The Rock’s hilarious heel turn is still fresh, it’s the most interested I’ve been in him in about three years worth of shows. I’ve also left in his Hollywood entrance as this was its first appearance and it’s incredible. This is also the first appearance of The Rock’s new tribal tattoo on his left arm and shoulder - that’s only gotten bigger and covered more of his body in the years since.

Little bit of fun trivia for anyone who didn’t notice but some of the music used for this video package was in fact the same music they’ve been using for the Sean O’Haire videos. I kind of wish Triple H had insisted on going on last tonight again like he did at Wrestlemania X8 because I feel like how badly his match bombed would be even more morbidly funny this time around. 

The fans are strongly behind Hogan and The Rock is hilarious, hamming it up at ringside talking trash with the fans and keeping his distance from The Hulkster. 

The Rock tries to jump Hogan from behind while he poses but gets rocked with some big right hands and scurries out of the ring for another breather right away.

The referee for this match is a new face - Slyvain Grenier from Montreal who also officiated the match on Sunday Night Heat earlier - and that will matter later. The Rock finally draws in a frustrated Hogan and gets in some cheap shots but the Hulkster is too amped up and he throws The Rock back to the outside. There’s a lot of time wasting here but that's forgivable being Rock’s first match since Summerslam and Hogan’s age. The Rock hits a Rock Bottom very early - the first actual move of the match - and Hogan kicks out. The Rock then puts on Hogan’s bandana and takes his weight lifting belt off to use as a weapon. He lights up Hogan’s back with the leather until Hogan blocks it and returns the favour with a couple of shots of his own.

The Rock hits a DDT and immediately kips up and strikes a pose to loud boos - what a performer. He locks Hogan in a loose sharpshooter, pulling him back to the middle of the ring after he makes it to the ropes and Hogan starts to fade like he’s going to pass out but he wakes up and starts to Hulk up to break it. The crowd is electric for everything even though they aren’t doing much. On the outside, The Rock demands the people clap for him and when he tries to use a steel chair, Hogan disarms him and uses it himself, cracking The Rock across the back. The referee doesn’t stop that but does stop the follow up shot to the head and the Rock capitalises with a low blow, a spinebuster and then a People’s Elbow. He bounces up and hits a second, rapid fire. Hogan kicks out and starts to Hulk Up, so the end is nigh. The Rock throws big right hands but they have no effect as the Hulkster pumps himself up and feels no pain. 

Hogan hits the three right hands, a big boot and his Immortal Legdrop and has the victory. The referee counts but the arena lights go out at the two count. When the lights come back on, the referee is down and there’s a steel chair in the ring. Vince McMahon struts out onto the ramp and is greeted by loud boos and “You screwed Bret” chants.

The referee isn’t really out though - he’s playing dead and slides the steel chair to The Rock! He hits Hogan with it, busting him open and then follows up with a Rock Bottom. The referee springs to life to count the three and The Rock has defeated Hulk Hogan again but this time with help from Vince McMahon, a steel chair and a crooked referee. 

The Rock and Grenier leave and a gloating Vince McMahon taunts a bloody Hogan in an altered Hogan t-shirt. “Brother sucks” doesn’t even make sense, Vince. Hogan isn’t “brother”, he calls other people brother! Wheels are in motion for Wrestlemania though and that's the main thing.